It looks like Star Trek’s William Shatner is saying goodbye to another character — who is literally going out in a heroic blaze of glory. Today Priceline released what they are calling the final ad featuring Shatner as "The Negotiator," and they may even be ending their relationship with the actor who helped launch the brand in the 90s. We also have a retrospective of some of Shat’s best Priceline spots.

Shatner’s Negotiator has his last negotiation

For William Shatner, there seems to be a “bridge over troubled waters” for many of his iconic characters. For decades, William Shatner was James T. Kirk who commanded from the BRIDGE of the U.S.S. Enterprise. In the film Generations, William Shatner played Captain Kirk again, and the character died while on a BRIDGE saving the residents of Veridian III. Now, in the latest Priceline.com advertisement which begins showing on television Monday, January 23rd, the Shat’s Priceline Negotiator character dies while saving others (and saving others some money) under a BRIDGE!

Here is the ad which will begin running next week.

William Shatner began his association with Priceline.com 14 years ago. The first set of ads featured Shatner speaksinging famous songs while musicians such as Ben Folds played. Another campaign featured Shatner being outclassed by Leonard Nimoy as they vied for Priceline.com’s attention. Five years ago, Shatner started playing the Priceline Negotiator whose antics included meeting his evil twin and taking care of his pet falcon. However, Priceline.com is altering their business model away from an entirely negotiated price. It is uncertain whether Shatner will appear as a different character in future advertisements, according to the AP he still is under contract with Priceline.com and could or could not be part of the future campaigns.

"I’m in grief mode. It’s not the first time I’ve had an iconic character die off." Shatner told AP reporter Lynn Elber, obviously referring to the death of James T. Kirk in Generations.

Remembering Shatner and Priceline

We at TrekMovie are also grieving the loss of the Priceline Negotiator. Less Negotiator means less Shatner on our TVs. That is never a good thing. But, we will cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, we still have the memories. Here are our pics for the best Shatner Priceline ads.

Negotiator ads

Shatner and Nimoy

"Bust a Move"

"You Don’t Know" (with Ben Folds)

BONUS: The Priceline.com ads with Shatner and Nimoy were not the first time they advertised for the travel industry. Check out this 1985 advertisement:

We need to enjoy The Shat while he’s still active. How old is he, like a million years old? And yet he’s got more star power than most of Hollywood put together.

You can take your faddish cinema stars of yesteryear, from Rock Hudson to The Rock. How many people around the world would know ‘em these days? But Bill Shatner, now, that’s an icon, from Newfoundland to Tinseltown, from Liverpool to Tibuktu, from the Bering Sea to Hainan Island. The Shat is the true rock of Hollywood.

One of the Shatner’s priceline ads also had Robert Pine, Chris Pine’s father. I cannot remember what was being advertised but Bill was driving, more like speeding in, a big car with Robert Pine sitting in the back and a little concerned for his safety…

Also, not sure if it is actually true or not, but I read that William Shatner and Robert Pine were actually working on a game show together, when Paramount officially announced that Chris Pine had been signed on to play Kirk.

OMG!! I love the look on The Shat’s face in that one where they tell him Nimoy is replaceing him!! LOL!:) I’m sure The Shat will be back on TV doing something! The man never gives it up!! And we all love him for it!! :) Long Live The Shat!! :)

Let’s face it, Shat got too fat for the part. He was looking huge in recent ads when paired with younger more fit actors. It was getting hard to take him seriously in the recent ads…in fact, I was a bit embarassed for him. Good for Priceline to end this before it gets even more sad.

Dude, let it go man. Those were fun ads, and William Shatner clearly had a sense of humor. Something you don’t have. Besides, it looks like Shatner has lost some weight lately, if you even bothered to notice. Which you didn’t, of course.

Not to nitpick, but if this Trek geek remembers correctly, Veridian III was not inhabited, but another planet in that star system did have millions that they were trying to save :) Yes, thanks for all the “bridge” references – I might not have even caught that. Most importantly, I have enjoyed your web site for years, and commend you for your thoroughness in covering everything Trek and even broader subjects like the space program. Keep up the good work!

About the weight issue, there’s plenty of precedent for portly people presenting precarious predicaments: William Conrad played the eponymous private eye in Cannon.

I remember watching Cannon, although most people here probably have never heard of it.

BTW, Cannon was canon in the Barnaby Jones universe, and thus both said shows featured Lee Meriwether, who famously appeared in ST (and has appeared at many ST cons) thereby making Cannon only one degree of separation from Star Trek and William Conrad only two degrees of separation from William Shatner.

To better clarify the Generations reference in the article (and apologies for those who have not seen the movie…)…Kirk didn’t die on the catwalk bridge but rather under a part of the bridge that snapped apart at its support beams and died while being pinned between it and the rock face he landed on with Picard knelt at his side as he drew his last breath (“…oh my…”). If you’re going to make a reference to a movie…please get it right…especially if we’re making any reference to “The Shat.”

Viridian 3 was uninhabited, All it was is simply a class M planet that could sustain life so that the protagonist of the film could assemble his probe to destroy the star of that system. god, get it right.